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News: Online figures for UK homes
Created: 10-06-2009 17:08

Online Figures for UK Homes

Ofcom look after the electronic communications industries in the UK - including television, radio and broadband. They make sure the companies who offer services like these stick to the rules and protect the public. Today they released the results of a new study into UK homes online. This isn't strictly about the PS3 but it does give some interesting information about how many homes have Internet connectivity (and why some don't) and how many have games consoles.

Here are some of the interesting outcomes of the study:

70% of homes in the UK have Internet access. 68% of those have broadband and 2% have narrowband (e.g. dial-up)
A further 6% of UK homes say they will have Internet access at home within the next 6 months. This means that over three quarters of all homes in the UK should have Internet access by the end of 2009.
42% of those homes without Internet access (so thats 12.6% of all UK homes) say they don't have it because they don't need or want it. They are mostly older or retired people.
7.7% of people asked have never used a computer!
30% of those without Internet access (which means 9% of UK homes) said the Internet was too expensive or they didn't have the skills to use it. 30% of those (2.7% of UK homes) said the cost of a computer was the main reason they didn't have Internet access at home.
0.9% of people asked had never heard of the Internet! Where are these people - under a rock? I can poke fun at them because I know they won't be reading this ;-)
10.8% of people asked did not have the Internet at home but did get other people with Internet access at home to access it for them. (Most of us know someone like this!)
There is a slightly higher percentage of people with Internet access in the age range 45 to 54, than those in the age ranges 16 to 24 or 25 to 44. This was quite surprising to me but may have something to do with disposable income and free time.

Now some console related figures:

47% of the UK population have games consoles. Thats a very good figure but sadly there is no differentiation between which models or which generation of consoles they have - that wasn't really the purpose of the study.
More of the UK populous have games consoles than MP3 players (41%).
16% of those who do not have Internet access still have games consoles. This was quite high I thought but does includes those with older consoles which cannot connect to the Internet, and of course the Wii demographic who just use it to keep the joints moving.

Some interesting figures there I thought.

[COMMENT]

News: Cause PAIN online
Created: 31-03-2009 19:30

Cause PAIN Online

I fired up PAIN today and got a HUGE surprise. I am embarrassed to say I haven't played it in a little while - you can blame Little Big Planet and Mirror's Edge for that. Not unexpectedly, as soon as I tried to launch Pain it informed me of an update. Little did I know it would add ONLINE play to one of the most fun games ever made!
You can now play games against people anywhere in the world, such as Bowling and the newly released Darts and Fortress game modes.

PAIN Darts

Don't underestimate the technical difficulty of making this game online - which is why it has taken so long to add this 'top requested' feature. Every tiny bit of debris has to be synchronised between players along with every single piece of collision information. Most games don't care about those details but for PAIN, it is essential. Take, for example, your favourite multiplayer FPS game (be it Killzone 2, Resistance, CoD etc) and think about the bits that fly about after explosions. If one of those little chunks happens to hit you on the hand it won't usually affect the player or influence the way their arm moves, but that is a big part of how PAIN works. This is why there is an minimum network/broadband upload speed of 256k.
For a FREE update this opens the game up enormously. Get it... get it NOW via PSN!

[COMMENT]

News: PS3 development kits now 80 percent cheaper!
Created: 25-03-2009 06:04 Edited: 25-03-2009 06:08

PS3 Development Kits Now 80 percent Cheaper!

Be on the lookout for a flood of new games from smaller independent developers soon as Sony have slashed the price of the official PS3 development kits.
Since the price drop in 2007 the kits were $10250 each making them a big investment for smaller game companies. Now the price is $2000 (£1370 ukpound) making it a much more attractive platform than ever before. I expect the majority of software in the short term will probably appear on PSN as downloadable games but it should see a boost in retail titles too. Great news for all PS3 owners.
My only worry is if the quality control slips and we end up with buckets of shovelware as seen on Nintendo's Wii and DS. Diluting the quality of games by increasing the quantity of bad games can have a negative effect on the sales of top games due to people not wanting to take the risk. This kind of thing obviously hasn't harmed Nintendo's sales - just their reputation. I am sure Sony have thought about this and wouldn't want to damage the PlayStation brand.

[COMMENT]

View: Demands for a PS3 price cut harmful
Created: 16-03-2009 18:14

Demands for a PS3 Price Cut Harmful

There have been many news reports and blog postings over the last couple of months demanding price cuts for the PS3. To start with, it was 'financial experts' (yeah, I have faith in those!) who said Sony must drop the price of the PS3. Then it was journalists, gamers and bloggers who said they should drop the price of the PS3. Now its developers who are saying the price should drop so they can sell more games. The last one is fare enough I suppose - developers should make more money from PS3 games which would lead to more PS3 exclusives, more games where the PS3 is the lead platform, and more PS3 titles. That's good for all of us.
The problem is that Sony think the PS3 is already good value for money. I tend to agree with them. If you put together any other machine, whether it be an Xbox 360 or a PC, to do the same things which the PS3 can do it would cost a lot more. The power and functionality of the PS3 is incredible value for money. We would all like something for nothing but you have to draw a line somewhere. So much coverage and speculation saying Sony have to drop the price soon will harm sales. People reading these reports will hold off buying a PS3 as they think the price is going to drop soon.
I don't think Sony will be pressured into dropping the price of the PS3. They don't want to lose money on the hardware and will drop the price when the production costs and sales figures say its viable to do so. If they are forced into a price drop then other cost cutting measures may have to be taken which could slow down firmware development, shrink advertising budgets etc.
Of course, when a price cut does happen, all of the Web sites and so called 'experts' will claim they had a part in it.

[COMMENT]

View: Game celebrity censorship - why?
Created: 10-02-2009 06:49

Game Celebrity Censorship - Why?

I just came across a news story about a game written for the iPhone. A simple affair where you bounce American politicians on a trampoline to pop balloons. What caught my eye is that it was rejected for inclusion on the iTunes online store by Apple due to it including comical cartoon versions of politicians. The full story is here: Telegraph.co.uk: Apple rejects Barack Obama trampoline iPhone application
The game isn't actually that good - then again that hasn't stopped an awful lot of shovelware making money for the Wii, but that's not the point. The game has been denied distribution due to the characters in the game being based on political/celebrity figures which Apple believe are being made fun of. Does the thought of Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton on a trampoline hurt their careers? Is it likely to make people think they cannot do their jobs? Does it show them in a negative light at all? No. I wouldn't even class this as ridecule or parody, even if the thought of someone in power having some childlike fun is amusing. I am sure far worse cartoons of these figures appear regularly in newspapers and magazines.
There are Web sites whose sole purpose is to provide games which contain images or cartoons of celebrities and put them in ludicrous situations. Most of them are rubbish but might give you a chuckle for a few minutes. That is why they are there and there is no harm done. It's just a bit of fun Apple. I am sure you have giggled at some of the online jokes poking fun at Bill Gates. I know I have ;-)

[COMMENT]